Yes! Due to my extraordinary fishing skills both first and biggest halibut went to me on our Halibut charter yesterday. (OK - OK - it was luck but it's fun to think differently. :) ) I caught a 44 inch long halibut. Don't think that isn't heavy coming off the bottom. According to the Halibut weight table, it should have been about 40 lbs and about 30 lbs of dressed fillets.
We have some very good friends that invited us to go with them on a halibut trip. They did a bang up job of planning and scheduling and Robert and I really appreciate the time and effort they put into the pre-planning. We had a blast.
We had a few rain drops but all in all, it the weather turned out perfectly and the seas were pretty darn calm compared to other times we have been in the Bay of Alaska. We were on a 50ft boat (the Nauti Lady) and left the Homer dock about 7:00am. Forty miles later we started fishing.
One the way out we saw a couple of schools (?) of whales and lots of sea otters including one with a pup on her belly. In fact, at the first fishing hole, we had whales blowing just off of the boat. (Whales seem to come out more when you haven't paid to specifically look for them.) It was a tough decision - fish or watch whales - but I maintained focus and fished.
The initial spot was about 110 feet deep. Then we moved to 300ft deep and then to a 275 ft deep spot. This is important information to know as halibut are bottom feeders. It takes a long time to real up 300 feet of line. My arms are tired. The line is actually braided and looks like a miniature rope. I don't know what it tests at but it was bigger line than I have ever used when large mouth bass fishing. Our bait was octopus and herring (I think). Our charter company was Bob's Trophy Charters and they did a fantastic job. I would go with them again in a heartbeat. Incredibly enough, one of our deckhands grew up only 28 miles from where I did albeit a few years later. Wasn't long before we were talking about similar experiences and old stomping ground!
There were 12 of us fishing on the boat with 8 in our group. Each person has a 2 halibut limit and all of us limited out by the end of the day. They cleaned and filleted the fish right on the boat and we carried our meat to the car in trash bags. I don't know how much meat it is (we haven't weighed it yet) but I am pretty sure it is between 40 and 50 pounds. By the way, the seagulls know what's going on with the fish carcuses. They followed the boat and every time one went off the back end, they landed and dined. We even had an eagle following the seagulls. The food chain in action.
Last night after we got home, Robert and I cleaned it, cut it up and stuck it in the freezer. Today we will invest in a vacuum sealer and get it finished.
While you have to take my word at both first fish and biggest fish, we do have a picture of the fish. It is still on the camera though so you will have to check back later!
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